Australian companies praised for implementing data security

Speaking to SC Magazine, Naidu said Australian companies across Asia/Pacific seem to be the first to react to news on global data breaches.

“Australian companies have been ensuring they don’t get the same exposure to a security breach,” he said. “Being at the forefront and knowing what could happen whilst also ensuring that they’re addressing it has been quite good.”

The positive trend is set to continue with Government agencies leading the way. Naidu said that his discussions with Australian Government representatives through out the year has led him to believe information security is high on the Government’s security agenda.

“My last trip to Melbourne and Canberra I had the opportunity to speak to some Government officials, while the process last year was email tagging, this year it’s going to be about file transfer protocols,” he said.

The correct methodology around how one organisation transfers files across the other and how they share files. "It’s common in Singapore," he said. "I think Australia is on the forefront of this one making sure are there’s regulations around how you transfer files."

“Once the government does it a lot of corporations will follow,” he added.

Patrick Bihammar senior analyst at IDC said Australian organisations have begun to realise the seriousness of data leakage and internal threats.

However, he could not confirm Naidu’s claims that Australia is at the forefront of securing data, instead he asserted that the latest IDC Survey released two weeks ago showed that data leakage is a serious consideration amongst Australian organisations.

“IDC Australia Security Survey 2008 of over 200 Australian organisations showed that data leakage is considered a very serious threat which was ranked as one of the most serious threats to organisations after malware such as viruses, worms, spyware and spam,” he said.

Bihammar added the potential changes to Australia Privacy Act to include data breach disclosure is likely to act as a stick for organisations to step up their DLP.

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